View full sizeA portion of a page from Carl Muggli's totem pole sales website honors the late Linda Muggli and shows the couple before Linda Muggli died Nov. 26, 2010. Carl Muggli was arrested June 6, 2011, and charged with second-degree murder in Linda Muggli's death, in part based on evidence of Carl Muggli's infidelity with a woman in Alabama. A telephone number and e-mail address have been redacted from the photo.

KOOCHICHING COUNTY, Minnesota -- A 61-year-old Minnesota woman's death by totem pole turned into a murder case after a source came to sheriff's deputies with printouts of Facebook pages evidencing a love affair between the victim's husband and a mystery woman in Alabama.

The criminal complaint against Muggli doesn't state where in Alabama his Internet lover lives -- it could be Mobile, Birmingham, Bug Tussle, ZipCity or anywhere -- but it does make clear evidence related to her was critical in Muggli's arrest on Tuesday, a little more than 5 months after Linda Muggli's death.

Death by totem pole? How does that happen?

Carl and Linda Muggli worked together in a totem-pole-making business. A website still offers their services, features both of their names and includes a photo of Linda Muggli standing by a very tall totem pole.

The totem poles -- the site is careful to state they are "not authentic totems from any Native American tribe" -- replicate the look of Indian relics and some are quite tall, up to 50 feet high. They can also be quite heavy.

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Carl Muggli told investigators on Nov. 26 that he and his wife were carving a pole weighing more than 2,900 pounds. It "was not level lying in the cradle" and Muggli had placed 2-by-4s under it to keep it even. As they were turning it with a hook, it suddenly fell on top of Linda Muggli, crushing her to death. One of the arms of the cradle was across Linda Muggli's neck.

How this exactly happened, according to an investigator's notes recalling the interview with Carl Muggli, is unclear, because Carl Muggli said he had his back turned toward his wife at the time the pole fell on her. He also, apparently, was on the phone with a woman in Alabama at the time.

Meet 'M.L.G. from Alabama'

On Dec. 2, a "concerned citizen" met with Koochiching County deputies to pass along evidence of a Facebook affair between Carl Muggli and a woman identified in the criminal complaint only as "M.L.G. from Alabama." To Carl Muggli, she was known by more passionate terms, such as "Eveningstar-Bunny-MyWife."

The citizen turned over printouts of Facebook conversations between Muggli and M.L.G. (later substantiated when deputies seized Muggli's computer and spoke to the woman in Alabama) that included evidence of an affair that was ongoing at the time of Linda Muggli's death.

Among the correspondence are these note writings reprinted verbatim from the criminal complaint:

Oct. 23, 2010: M.L.G. writes, “I love you and want this all even to be the only one within your life and I well Marry you I just do not want problems we can handle this all but we will do it right for all parties. You can always reach me as I can you justcarefully.”

Nov. 25, 2010: The Defendant writes, “Friendly reminder .Eveningstar-Bunny-MyWife. I love you with all my being. Every move, every though everything in my life is now for you, US. I want us together to live our lives as we seek. With all the Love, Passion, Affection, Emotion that we have. These feeling are directly from my soul. For I am with you. I am yours. We are one!”

Nov. 28, 2010: The Defendant writes, “I love you veningstar, we’ll get through this, I love you, house just got full again, will call soon.”

Nov. 30, 2010 (1530 hours) – M.L.G. writes in response to emails about property, “Hi Baby, you, U have been nusy, this is good and yes I’ll look, thank U, I’m loving it, all properties good, yes, very good, you well know watch one feel it in your heart, follow your heart as I havebeen doing. I love you baby call when can, Hugs and Kisses, holding you tight, I will not let you go, love you my husband.”

Deputies also found evidence that Carl Muggli was trying to find rental property in Texas, where he eventually moved after his wife's death.

Carl Muggli reportedly gave differing accounts of the accident

Investigators also tried to recreate the death scene, but were unable to make a log fall in the same way as described by Muggli. And when they spoke to relatives who had spoken with Muggli, they heard different accounts of Linda Muggli's death. The victim's brother and brother-in-law both said they heard Carl Muggli say that an uncarved log fell on Linda Muggli when a cable broke as they were lifting the log with a Bobcat, according to the criminal complaint.

Then, on May 30, long after much of the investigation had been done, came the interview with M.L.G. from Alabama.

Speaking with a chief deputy by telephone, M.L.G. said she actually had been on the phone with Carl Muggli on the day his wife wound up on the floor in a pool of blood. While she was on the phone with him, according to the deputy's notes, she "heard him arguing with the victim about getting a divorce. The defendant [Muggli] called her back 30 minutes later after the conversation ended and informed her that an accident had happened and EMTs were present and working on the victim."

That interview concluded, the arrest warrant was issued and, in a cooperative effort involving agents from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Texas Rangers, Wilson County Sheriff’s Office and the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office, Muggli was taken into custody.

So who is M.L.G.? Perhaps she'll be called to testify at trial and identified in court.